The Australian Tankery Tournament - Triumph of Newcastle
by ErwinYukari
Summary: AU In the Australian Tankery Tournament, Newcastle is considered as a weak and easy opponent. Trent and his crew are going to change that. My first attempt at writing Tank Combat. Reviews would be (MORE THAN) welcome. On Hiatus
1. Prolouge - Brisbane vs Newcastle

******A/N: March 3rd Update: This is now the final version of the Prologue. I do suggest re-reading it. Chapter One has been having severe writer's block, but hopefully I'll get over it. Expect it by week's end.******

_****Prologue****_

**PROLOUGE **

**9th of February**  
><strong>Sturt National Park, New South Wales<strong>

The midday sun barley shone off of my Cruiser Mk VIII tank as it sat out in the open. The drab British green paint that covered the Cromwell absorbed most of the sun's rays, and only a few areas of exposed or rusted metal reflected the light. There was however the bright white lettering on the turret's left which proudly proclaimed the name the crew had bestowed upon our tank; _Wherezatiger_. The white lettering was on all the tanks in our team, though each set of letters proclaimed a different name. Despite making it easier for the enemy to spot us, the names lifted morale for the team, and so would stay. Thus we'd turned our turret so that the lettering faced away from the enemy's last known location. I didn't want the enemy to spot our position, on merit of seeing our name.

The position wasn't too bad, even though _Wherezatiger_ always ended up being used as the bait tank. From where we sat, we could overlook the entire field, and our rear half was hidden by a large yellow-ochre rock that jutted four metres into the air from the ground. To our right, south on a compass, a lazy breeze that could not be felt from inside the turret cruised through the thin bushland. I wished I could feel the breeze, rather than merely see it. Only ten metres within the Mulga trees sat _Gunpowder_ in their better camouflaged Cromwell, just waiting for either the enemy to spot us or for us to spot them. If I had my way it would be the first option.

I tapped my gunner's shoulder and looked over to her. The petite girl that served as my gunner was only one year fresh off the boat from Germany. She'd picked up the sport of Sensha-do, which is almost unheard of outside the Pacific Rim, as fast as she'd learnt English and had proved herself to be a natural at the sport. She raised a blond eyebrow as she turned to return my gaze.

"See anything, Hilde?" I asked her.

She pressed her light blue eyes up against the gun's sights, and slowly rotated the turret in a complete circle. When the turret came to a rest, she leant back into her seat and sighed. She looked over at me and shook her head. I turned to the tall and lanky Radioman. The brunette haired boy looked over at me.

"Have _Gunpowder_ or _Tortoise_ seen anything, Jack?" I asked him.

"Nope, all's quiet Commander." he replied.

"Well I'm going to turn out," I informed my crew, "and see if I can spot them the old fashioned way."

I pushed open the cupola and extended my legs, pushing my body through the hatch. As I emerged a welcome gust of wind blew straight through me, and briefly cooled me down. Though the forty-three degree heat reasserted itself within seconds. The sun still sat high in the cloudless sky. It had been a dry late January, and thus the ochre-red dust sat lose all around us. The enemy wouldn't be able to move without throwing it up into the sky, as a looming red cloud on the horizon proved.

I grabbed for the pair of vintage binoculars that I had taken a custom of tying to the Cromwell's cupola. When my fingers closed around the old black metal casing a searing pain shot up my right arm. I swiftly slammed my left hand over my mouth, before I could let out a string of curses. The scorching summer heat had turned the binoculars into a branding iron. I could almost swear that my hand was blistering.

I snatched my blue beret, the iconic uniform piece of the _Newcastle School for Tankery _team, from my head and used it as a makeshift glove. Gripping the binoculars through it, I lifted them to my eyes, and peered through. The Strzelecki Desert seemed to grow nearer as I gazed at them in a magnified scale. Though I could clearly see the dust trail, it took me a few seconds to identify what was making it. Once I spotted the Soviet olive T-34 that headed the trail I sunk back into the cupola. My ever observant loader, Matt, poured his canteen's water over my right hand as I submerged. I flashed him a smile.

"I spotted their last tank!" I announced, before turning to Jack to give him more details to rely to _Gunpowder_, "It's a T-34-85, looks like a Model 1944 if I'm not mistaken."

"AP round up, sir!" My normally stoic loader announced, as he closed the gun's breach.

"Thank you, Matt. Hilde, aim for the second road wheel on the tank." I commanded, "Hopefully we can stop the bastard in his tracks."

"Want me to start up the engine, sir?" Chris, my driver, asked.

"Right after Hilde fires." I ordered Chris, before turning to face Jack, "Jack, as soon as Chris starts up the engine, I want _Gunpowder_ to charge with us down the hill, and face the T-34 at a closer range. Relay that to _Gunpowder_."

Jack began talking into the radio set, as Hilde began turning the turret. I heard her muttering in German. Her barely audible words sounded like calculations. Over five hundred metres away, the T-34 of the _Brisbane Tankery College_ rumbled along, unawares of its impending doom. It turret slowly rotated to the left, before stopping at forty-five degrees and rotating back the other way. It still hadn't seen us.

"On the way!" Hilde exclaimed as she fired the Cromwell's 75mm Vickers High Velocity gun.

Through my binoculars I witnessed the round bounce off the T-34's armour, right above the second road wheel. Hilde swore as Chris started up the Rolls Royce engine. We began to reverse, before Chris spun the Cromwell to the left and we started speeding down the hill. The crashing of an old Coolabah tree announced that _Gunpowder_ would be following us down the slope.

"AP Round Up!" Matt announced.

"Hold fire, until my command." I told Hilde. "Matt, I want next round to be APCR."

They both acknowledged my orders. I planned to wait for our Cromwells to get closer to the T-34, where their sloped armour would be far less effective at deflecting our shots. With two Cromwells, we'd be able to encircle the Brisbane team's tank, and destroy it.

"Sir, radio message from _Tortoise_, they've taken out the enemy's last BT-7, but they were destroyed doing so!" Jack exclaimed, before mumbling to himself, "Something about being rammed…"

That was it, the T-34 was the last tank left on Brisbane's team. With a smile I pushed myself back out of the cupola. The T-34 had stopped its advance, and was now rotating so that its thick, sloped frontal armour faced us. Its 85mm cannon roared, and a plume of rock and dirt erupted only metres from our tank. _Gunpowder _returned fire, and similarly missed, as to be expected in a tank moving at fifty kilometres an hour.

"Jack, tell Alexis to take her tank on the thirty four's right, we'll go left!" I ordered.

Jack replayed the order to Alexis, the Commander of _Gunpowder_ Team, and I ordered Chris to swing us to the left. Chris traversed the tank as fast as he could, while maintaining our fifty kilometre and hour speed. I braced as the tank's movement slammed me into the right side of the cupola. We were now less than fifty metres from the T-34, and were closing rapidly. I ordered Hilde to fire the cannon.

A burst of fire left the end of _Wherezatiger's_ gun, propelling the 75mm AP round. The round found its mark, and blew two treads from the tank's tracks. Like an uncoiling snake the rest of the T-34's tracks came undone and fell to the ground around it. The enemy could no longer choose which armour would face us. With the roar of an injured lion, the T-34's 85mm cannon fired, and the round buried itself into _Gunpowder's_ lower glacis. The Cromwell slid to a stop, and a white flag ejected from the Cupola.

"APCR round up!" Matt shouted.

"Excellent," I replied through gritted teeth.

The T-34's turret had begun sweeping back. The Commander of their tank was as desperate as I was. It was their last stand, and our final charge. With the wind rushing through my hair, we hurdled toward them at over fifty kilometres an hour. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins as I gave my final order.

"Fire at the driver's hatch!"

The gun traversed for a mere second before Hilde pulled the trigger.

"On the way!" She shouted.

The round tore through the air, before smashing into the enemy's front. The T-34 shook with the impact of the round, and a large plume of smoke arose. When it cleared I saw the T-34's white flag, and depressed barrel. I pumped a fist into the air, and shouted in joy. Newcastle had survived the battle.

I slumped down into my commander's chair, completely drained of energy. I looked around the Cromwell's interior, at my excited crew. Jack was talking loudly on the radio with _Tortoise_ Team, questioning something to do with a ram, and Hilde had leant forward to embrace Chris. I looked over at Matt, and the excited mood started to drain. Matt's grim face was less than excited, to say the least.

"You know this means we'll be up against Melbourne for the next match." He solemnly proclaimed.

**A/N: I write in the Queen's English****_,_ so you may find some words spelt 'wrong' or used 'incorrectly' dependant on which type of English you speak. Please correct me on any grammar or spelling mistakes. Please review! Hoping to have Chapter 1 out soon, though I plan for every chapter to be longer than this, and am trying to force myself to a 4000 word minimum for future chapters.  
>Feb 6th Update: Location Changed. Slight grammar and spelling corrections.<br>**


	2. Chapter 1 - Return Home and Practise

********A/N: May 1st Update: Wow, this is very late. I promised this would be uploaded in early March. Wow. I'm a douchebag. Anyhow, enjoy ja?  
>May 5th Update: Fixed some errors in the chapter.<strong>******

**CHAPTER ONE**

**11****th**** of February  
>North of Newcastle, New South Wales<strong>

The cooler weather of Newcastle greeted me as our coach stopped and opened its doors. We were finally home from the first round of the tournament. Behind the coach the three King Trailers that carried our tanks drove past. The damaged tanks, as well as the mostly unscathed _Wherezatiger_, would be taken around the back of the school, to the mechanics' hanger. Leon, the school's head mechanic and resident Scotsman, might actually be happy with me for once. After all it's the first time _Wherezatiger_ hasn't been destroyed in all of the two years I've commanded her. I made a note to go and see him after the victory celebrations were over. The mechanics had never shown up to them in the past. They preferred to get to work on repairing our tanks straight away.

The long, and arduous trip home would make even the most energetic person want to stretch, and being far from the most energetic bloke in the coach, I rose from my seat and lifted my arms as high as I could. The stretch barely relived my tired muscles. Grudgingly I tramped to the front of the coach, turned to face the wide-open doors and dropped down on the gravel below. It crunched softly when I landed, multiple pieces of gravel no doubt now stuck in the soles of my boots. I walked away from the coach, after I gave one last stretch.

Feeling as refreshed as I possibly could, I pulled out my blue beret, which had been stuffed in my shorts' back pocket. I reached into my breast pocket and retrieved my beret's silver cap badge. The badge was quite reminiscent of the British Royal Tank Regiment, though we lacked the crown, and the inscription of _Fear Naught_ had been replaced with the initials of our school. Quickly I smoothed out my beret, and attached the cap badge. As smartly as I could, I placed the beret on my head. With a quick sweep of my hands, I flattened out my jacket and shorts. My uniform looking the best it could after the long ride from the lodgings in Tibooburra.

Matt was quick to join me, his uniform was in top shape from the moment he left the coach. He briskly walked over and came to a rest at my left. At over one hundred and ninety-two centimetres, he towered over me in height and was easily the tallest student in the school. I looked over, and up, at him. He had the same bored expression that was normally plastered on his face. Though I doubt he really is that bored, I've seen him get excited in the midst of battle, as well aggravated after we suffered one of the many defeats that the _Newcastle School for Tankery _had been known for, and he still wore that expression. Jack joined us not soon after, his beret pushed through his left epaulette and his aviator sunglasses covered his eyes. I flashed him a glare.

"What?" He questioned.

"Come on mate, the School Council will be arriving soon," I replied, "That means full uniform. Ditch the sunnies."

He made a show out of sighing, but eventually pulled his beret free and placed it on his head. I raised an eyebrow, and he sighed again, before he removed the aviators and placed them in his breast pocket. Chris and Hilde walked over to our group at the same time. Both were already in their full uniform. My whole crew stood in line, our blue berets, khaki shirts and shorts not quite lining perfectly up.

The sun began to set on the distant western horizon, and the gravel started to glow in a multitude of amber and orange hues. Around us _Tortoise_ and _Gunpowder_ teams formed up, all in uniform. I felt a surge of pride, knowing that not only had _Wherezatiger_ team been the sole surviving crew, that had won the battle, but were also now finally the first crew ready on the parade ground, in uniform. Before sunset too. It was unprecedented.

"Council on Deck!" Alexis shouted as the street lamps in the concrete bus bay started to flicker to life.

With a thunderous, yet unsynchronised, crash of boots, the assembled crews came to a close approximation of attention. Had a proper Sergeant been there, I can certainly say we'd have all been on latrine duty. However, the standards of the school weren't nearly as high as the military, after all it was more of a sport for us. The three person School Council marched in front of all three crews, before turning on their heels and retracing half their steps to stand in the centre-front of us. The Council bowed to us, and we returned the bow.

"Congratulations on the victory!" The School President declared, "It's the first our school has had in two years, and now thanks to you lot, we're no longer the laughing stock of the Australian Tankery Federation!"

The School's treasurer, standing rigidly on the President's left, spoke up;

"The Prez is right, but don't let the victory go to your heads, mates. We still got to train hard, and make sure that we're ready to take down Melbourne next week."

The Public Relations Manager, standing on the President's right cut in;

"I've done some scouting, and far as I can tell Melbourne are using only two panzer. A Panther Ausf. D and a Tiger Ausf. E."

Alexis and I shared a quick glance, worry evident on both our faces. The German tanks were better than anything we had. The president cut back in to the speech;

"But for now, don't let any of that worry get to you. Go enjoy yourselves. Rec Room's all yours. Dismissed!"

I took in her words, and let the worry flow out of my system. There was no use holding on to it now. I walked over to Alexis, and gave her a tap on the shoulder. She turned to face me.

"We'll draw up some plans tomorrow?" I asked.

She nodded and then asked, "Do you know where the battle's going to be?"

I shook my head, "Not a clue. Though considering we just played at home, next round has to be away, so it'll be on a Victorian field. Viccy's only got three fields, so we just plan for all three, yeah?"

She nodded, and smiled, before dragging me to the Rec Room with her.

**12****th**** of February  
>North of Newcastle, New South Wales<strong>

Loud singing reverberated around my room as my alarm, the rendition of _Men of Harlech_ from the movie _Zulu_, shook me from my slumber. Before they could start the second verse I rolled over and violently ripped my phone from its charger. The bright light that it emitted as I unlocked it blinded me in my early morning stupor. As fast as I could, I ceased the alarm. The phone then returned to the main page of applications. I locked it, and threw it toward a pile of clothes, before I dragged myself out of bed. I stretched before I pulled open the closet doors. I removed my uniform, nicely pressed, and begun to get changed into it as I stepped over the crumbled remains of the one I'd worn last night.

Within five minutes I was ready for school. I rushed out the door of my room, a piece of toast hanging out my mouth, and begun to walk to class. I reached the end of the hallway and begun to descend the stairs to the ground floor when it occurred to me that I'd left my phone in my room, still atop the clothes I'd thrown it on. I quickly rushed back to get it. I locked my door, for the second time today, just as the one next to me opened. Ducking slightly, Matt stepped out. I flashed him an attempt at a smile, almost dropping my toast from my mouth, and got a raised eyebrow in return. My left hand darted up to me mouth and I snatched the toast out of it.

"Good Morning." I greeted him.

Matt nodded and replied, "Yes, I suppose it is."

In silence we started off towards the stairs. We both descended almost silently, only my own stifled yawn broke the silence. At the bottom of the staircase we parted, both of us going in different directions. I walked forwards towards the classrooms, Matt, however, turned left and walked over to a vending machine that sold carbonated beverages. I slowed my walking pace, and looked over my shoulder at him. I waited as he inserted his money and received his drink. Without a word shared between us, he re-joined me, and together we travelled to class.

The classrooms were not far away from the lodgings. It was only a ten minute walk, in which we cut across the joint Rugby-Football field. The school, having only the necessary tankers and maintenance crews, only had three classrooms and three teachers. I pulled my phone from my pocket and glanced at my timetable. I had Modern History first, a class I didn't share with Matt. Mat was a more mathematical person and his choice of subjects, mostly sciences and maths, proved that. I gave him a quick wave as we parted ways, he walked into Classroom Two and I walked into Classroom One.

I spotted Hilde sitting on her own, next to the window. I walked over and joined her. Behind us sat Leon. I turned around in the standard issue blue plastic chair, leaning one arm across itself back, and flashed Leon a smile. He rolled his eyes.

"Ye're not gettin' a thanks outta me!" He bluntly stated.

"Come on Leo!" I exclaimed, "I didn't scratch her at all!"

"Yeah, ye did." He replied instantaneously, "The turret 'ad two dints in et, not to mention all the scrapes on the bot'em."

"Yeah well, one of their BT-7s got the jump on us!" I replied, "But we diced him right after! And come on, this is better than when I normally give her back to you."

"I'll give ye that…" Leon began to say, before the arrival of the teacher cut him off.

"Well training is on this arvo, reckon you'll have all finished by then?" I whispered.

"Fark off, I will if ye stop bothering me!" he whispered back.

With a suppressed laugh, I turned to face the front of the room, and begun to jot down notes on the Russian Revolution.

* * *

><p>The two Cromwell Mk. IVs and singular Matilda Mk. V of our school stood in all their glory in front of Leon's workshop. <em>Gunpowder<em> team had all arrived first, and most of _Tortoise_ team were starting to board their Matilda when _Wherezatiger_ team arrived. I lead our team across the gravel footpath over our tank, and then directed them to start boarding her.

"Late again, Trent!" Alexis shouted from the cupola of _Gunpowder_.

I stuck my tongue out at her, before I dropped beneath my own cupola. I gave Chris a gentle nudge with my foot, and he started up the Rolls Royce Meteor engine. The Cromwell began to slightly vibrate as I instructed Chris to take us slowly forward, and over to the firing range. As it was routine all three tanks on the team would first fire at targets, both still and moving, both the Prez came out and gave us any training drills. The short drive to the range, which included a dip through a creek, made sure that there were no engine faults, and the firing practise allowed the gunners to calibrate their guns. _Tortoise_ was, as always, the last to make it to the firing range. When _Wherezatiger_ came to a halt, I popped open my cupola and turned out.

"Alright, Matt load the dud round. Hilde, the target is a still, at two-fifty metres. Rotate turret twelve degrees left. Light it up when ready." I instructed through my thought-mic.

"Dud round up!" Matt announced as the Cromwell's turret traversed.

"On the way!" Hilde shouted.

The Cromwell's 75mm gun fired and, seconds later, the cardboard target exploded. Pieces of cardboard flew up into the sky, and littered the ground as they fell. I thumped the turret twice with my fist, letting Hilde know that the shot was on target.

"Next target will be moving at fifty metres. Load another dud." I commanded.

"Dud round up!" Matt proclaimed mere seconds later.

A cardboard cut-out of a Panther began to move across the firing range. Slowly the Cromwell's turret started to traverse, eventually meeting the Panther's speed. As the Panther spun and begun its third run _Wherezatiger_'s gun roared, and the target exploded. I smiled, Hilde's aiming was perfect today. I dropped back down into my commander's seat, and closed the hatches above me.

"Good shots." I complimented, "Now, let go back to the staging area."

Chris spun the tank slowly around and begun to retreat back to the staging area where we had started. The Cromwell's treads packed the gravel on the road closer together, though I was sure some of it was no doubt catching in the road wheels and tracks. The gravel was the hardest thing to remove from the tank after dried mud, and I really wished that we would replace the gravel road with an asphalt one. _Wherezatiger_ came to a halt, her engine still idling, and I decided to turn out.

Looking around I noticed we were the first back from the firing range. I also noticed the other tank. The tall armoured vehicle was painted in a much lighter shade of green, almost an olive. The sun shone of the tank's fifty-eight degree sloped frontal armour, and gave the tank's front an eerie glow. The massive gun that it carried extended from its almost circular turret and past the front of its hull. _Gunpowder_ rolled up behind us, and when Alexis turned out she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. We waited for _Tortoise_ to arrive before we dismounted and walked over to the new tank.

"It's definitely a Sherman of some type!" Tortoise team's commander, Ben, shouted as he ran over to catch up to Alexis and me.

"It's called Rose." Alexis announced.

"How'd you know that?" I inquired.

"It's written on the turret, right next to our school's symbol." She replied.

I looked up at the turret, she was right. Written in white was the word _Rose_. Perhaps _Tortoise_ Team were getting a new tank. I had heard that our school had collected more funds after our win over Brisbane. An anonymous donor, or something along those lines at least. Though it would be even better if we could get a new crew as well. Having four tanks would help against the richer teams like Melbourne and Sydney who could afford to field over ten tanks in some instances. At least the Australian Version of the Sensha-do limited the number of tanks to six in all battles, except the final, where the limit was ten. I'd heard reports of teams in Japan fielding over twenty tanks in one battle and read about last year's American Sensha-do Championship, in which Richmond and Dallas had played almost thirty tanks off against each other. The Sherman's hatch opened, surprising us all.

"So what'd you think lads?" The School President asked as she pulled herself out of the tank.

"Is it for us?" Ben asked her, "We finally getting a new tank?"

"And leave your poor Matilda without a team?" She countered, "Fat chance! The council and I will be driving the Sherman Firefly."

"Just the three of you?" I asked. "It is a five man tank you know?"

"We know, I'm doubling as Commander and Gunner and Patrick will double as Loader and Radio Operator." She replied.

Patrick, the Public Relations Manager popped open the other hatch on the Firefly's turret. Patrick was a stark contrast to the President. He was a tall and slightly chubby, where's she was short and thin. Her raven black hair was an opposite of his almost albino white blond hair. Yet they both shared an enthusiasm that the last council member, Aidan, did not. The Treasurer was a hard man, with a heart of ice. He was calculating and reserved, only saying what was absolutely necessary. How Aidan had stayed in a stable relationship with the President for two years was anyone's guess. I guess they're when they say that opposites attract.

"So who's up for a quick two versus two practise match?" The President rhetorically asked.

* * *

><p>The practise field at Newcastle was small, only one kilometre long and half as wide. It was, however, a highly urbanised field. Prefab houses scattered the landscape, simulating an actual city to some degree. The field completely negated the advantage that our Cromwells had in speed, there were far too many turns. The President's team, <em>Rose<em> Team as we were now calling them, had sided with _Tortoise_ Team for the exercise, thus pitting both our Cromwells against the Matilda and Firefly. Alexis and I had led our tanks into the centre of the field, and our Cromwells now sat next to each other with our engines off in a small courtyard. I turned out and began to scan the area around us. I could hear the Firefly and Matilda, they were definitely moving, but the urban environment distorted the sound. There were at least five different ways the enemy could come at us, and they could be at any of them. Either tank could take us out in a single shot, especially to our weak side armour, whereas both of their tanks packed quite a lot of armour.

Alexis turned out of her tank as well, and also scanned the area before turning to me.

"I don't think your idea of an ambush is going to work." She flatly stated, "We've no idea where they'll be coming from."

"But there's no room for us to move in here," I retorted, "We don't really want to expose ourselves to them. I think our positions are fine."

I mentioned to the hull down positions we'd quickly constructed. We'd spend about two minutes quickly pulling together random pieces of debris and encased our tanks in them on all sides save the rear, we did need an escape route. The tactic was, I believed, sound. It covered our weak hull armour and allowed us to compensate for the Firefly and Matilda's armour advantage.

"CONTACT!" Hilde shouted, and Alexis and I both dropped into our tanks.

"What is it, and where?" I barked out.

"The 'Tilda, it just reversed back around the north-eastern road!" Hilde answered.

"Take them when they come back around!" I ordered her, before ordering Jack to rely the location of the Matilda to _Gunpowder_.

"_Gunpowder's_ asking if they can go after _Tortoise_." Jack told me.

"Tell them not to, the Firefly is almost certainly sitting around the corner, waiting for us to take the bait." I retorted, before issuing more orders, "Tell them to hold position and to start up their engine. Chris, start ours up."

The two Cromwells roared to life, plumes of smoke suddenly ejecting from the tanks. A loud thump indicated _Gunpowder_ had fired their 75mm gun. Jack quickly informed me that they'd seen the Matilda, fired at it and missed, and were asking permission to move positions. I again denied them.

"On the way!" Hilde shouted as our own 75mm fired.

The round flew through the air, before hitting one of the prefab houses. Right next to our round's crater the Matilda began to inch forward. Its two pounder fired and hit us. _Wherezatiger_ shook and the horrifying ring of the round bouncing off of our armour reverberated throughout the hull. Matt fumbled with the round he was about to put into the breach.

"They've thrown dirt all over the gun sight." Hilde announced, "I can hardly see anything!"

We didn't have time, nor opportunity, to dismount and clean the gun sights. We'd have to make do for now and clean it later. To do that though, we first had to reposition ourselves.

"AP round up!" Matt shouted, after finally managing to load the round.

"You'll have to fire as is Hilde, we can't clean your sights yet!" I shouted.

She grunted in response, trying her hardest to see through the sights. Her gloved fingers started to tighten on the gun's trigger. After an excruciatingly long pause she finally fired the gun.

"On the way!" She shouted.

The gun was silent.

"Misfire, Misfire!" She begun to shout.

"Chris, reverse!" I ordered, "Get us out of here. Jack get _Gunpowder_ to follow us. Hilde fire the Co-Axial and Matt clear the breach!"

Our tank jolted as we slowly reversed out of our hull down position, and the machine gun began to rattle to life. The machine gun's rounds would do nothing to the Matilda, or the Firefly for that matter, but the constant ding of rounds on the hull made it almost deafening inside the tank. Disorienting the crew was probably the best thing we could do right now.

Our Cromwell left the courtyard and I turned out of the hatch. I looked to our rear and saw a dirty, battered and yet still okay _Gunpowder_ team behind us. With the most of the observation devices damaged, except luckily for the driver's, this was the only way I was going to get a visual of the battlefield until we could clean the view ports. As the street widened out Gunpowder team drew their tank up next to ours, and Alexis turned out.

"I bloody told you that was a stupid tactic!" She shouted at me, "Our main advantage is speed and you wanted us to sit still?"

"Yes, but our disadvantage is our paper armour," I shot back, "I was merely trying to negate that!"

She exhaled and rolled her eyes before turning back in. The hatch slammed on the cupola, and rang around on the nearby buildings. I myself turned back in, I needed time to look at the map and rethink strategy. With any luck, Tortoise and Rose would think that we'd run away from them, rather than just hiding around the corner.

"How's the gun coming along?" I asked my gunner and loader.

"It's alright," Hilde answered, "someone didn't load the round properly. We've fixed it though."

"That's good," I replied before asking, "Want to grab a cloth and help me clean the view ports?"

Hilde nodded as the entire tank shook.

_Tink_!

The white flag sprung up and signalled that our tank had been knocked out. I jumped out the cupola and saw Rose team sitting directly in front of us. The President turned out with a large grin plastered on her face, as the Firefly's turret turned to face Gunpowder. Gunpowder's 75mm roared, but the round deflected off of the slopped armour of the Firefly. After a few seconds, in what I could only guess was the 17 pounder being loaded, the President ducked back into her tank and her gun fired. Its shear noise shattered the window in one of the nearby prefab houses, and Gunpowder rocked backwards, before her flag deployed.

"I win!" The President shouted.

******A/N: I apologise for bad ending. I wanted to write more, but it's taking too long for me to write a chapter. Expect this chapter to be edited 1-2 times before I'm happy with it. If you spot anything wrong please let me know.******


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